YMMV / Nirvana in Fire

• Adaptation Displacement: Far, far more people have watched the series than have read the novel. (Though the fact the novel doesn't have an official English translation may have something to do with this.)
• Ass Pull: Many. A few of Mei Changsu's Batman Gambit s certainly apply, such as when he buys a house and invites his friends to see it together with him and one of them almost falls into a dried-up well, discovering several dead bodies that were hidden here by a serial murderer, and then it turns out Mei Changsu bought the house for that exact reason, so one of his friends would almost fall into that well and discover the dead bodies, but more egregiously, the number of situations where his connections to a powerful martial arts alliance saves the day for him, such as when his enemies recruit their own martial artists to put pressure on someone, and not only does Mei Changsu know exactly who they recruited but he is able to immediately call upon a better martial artist of his own who injures every one of the bad guys before they can do any harm. Even worse, when Prince Jing loses an important mission (providing monetary relief to a region struck by famine) to Prince Yu, the alliance happens to have just found proof of Prince Yu taking bribes from one of the mayors from the famine-struck region, disqualifying him of undertaking the mission. Though the entire series is generally very well-written, there's a lot of cringe coming from this trope.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The series shares a production team and several actors with The Disguiser. Watching one series immediately after the other is a surreal experience.
  • Liu Yi Jun plays a paranoid Manipulative Bastard who discovers one of his sons isn't actually his son, so he tries to have him killed. Is this a description of Xie Yu or Yuan An? Incidentally Ji Chen (Prince Qi) was also in Lost Love in Times — as Yuan Ji, another royal who dies tragically.
  • Here Wang Kai plays the only good prince in the royal family. Five years later in Serenade of Peaceful Joy he plays a selfish, abusive emperor. Seeing Jingyan of all people being a complete Jerkass is jarring to say the least.
  • Two years after this series Cheng Hao Feng (Xiao Jingrui) appeared in General and I... as an Evil Chancellor planning to usurp the throne. Seeing Jingrui as a scheming politician is either amusing or strange (or amusingly strange) for NIF fans.
  • Liu Min Tao (Consort Jing) and Wang Ou (Qin Banruo) went on to appear in The Rise of Phoenixes — another series where the main character is trying to posthumously clear the name of a prince murdered on false charges.
  • Three years after this series Liu Yi Jun (Xie Yu) and Wang Jin Song (Yan Que) appeared in Legend of Fuyao.
  • Liu Tao, Liu Yi Jun and Zhang Yu Jian all appeared in The Legend of Mi Yue, which started airing shortly after Nirvana in Fire finished.
• Ho Yay: The camaraderie between Mei Changsu/Lin Shu and Xiao Jingyan is a very integral part of the story and it overshadows even the romance between Mei Changsu/Lin Shu and the female lead Mu Nihuang. It is without a doubt the most popular ship in the fandom.
  • In the original novel, it was even more apparent as Mu Nihuang had another romantic interest.
  • The original novel started on BL forums and had plenty of ship tease, especially between Mei Changsu and Xiao Jingrui. It was never explicit, and the author even commented that they were not the end pairing, but it was apparently very easy to read into. These early chapters were first edited after the novel moved to a non-BL space and then removed from the final version. (Source)
  • Xiao Jingyan promised to bring back a pearl the size of a pigeon's egg for Lin Shu. One of the most heartwarming scenes around the end of the series was Xiao Jingyan revealing he had kept that pearl for thirteen years. In many ways, that pearl can be seen as a token of love.
  • To be honest, Mei Changsu has Big Relationship Energy with *takes a deep breath* Prince Jing, Lin Chen, Mu Nihuang, Meng-dage, and arguably Prince Yu, only one of whom is female.
  • Official behind the scenes materials featured Xiao Jingyan holding the box with the pearl on one knee and Mei Changsu extending his hand and Xiao Jingyan holding the box and Mei Changsu standing next to him, the pearl between his middle and ring finger as if it was a ring.
• Retroactive Recognition: Zhang Zhe Han plays Lin Shu in flashbacks. Six years later he became famous for playing Zhou Zi Shu in Word of Honor.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Lin Chen/Xiao Jingyan is a popular ship on Lofter (a Chinese social media site), even though they never appear on-screen together.

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